The invention relates to a covering device for an opening in the outer panel of a motor vehicle, specifically for the spray nozzle passage of a headlight washer system which is equipped with a hinged door on the visible surface of the surrounding outer panel, fitting flush and covering the opening in the closed position and which, in the released position, swings outwards from the opening on the visible surface of the outer panel.
There are covering devices known of this kind for headlight washer systems in vehicles in which the covering panel for a spray nozzle is fitted directly in the outer body of the vehicle in a swivel position near an opening and is held in the closed position by a torsion spring. The passage is located in the plastic trim in the area between the headlight cutouts in a headlight mounting arrangement. The disadvantage of this is that to facilitate installation in the trim, the cover panel must be aligned in the opening without undue stress, whereby the positional tolerance of the mounting locations must be kept to a minimum. Besides the increased difficulty in mounting and aligning a cover panel on the visible surface, it is difficult to avoid that an outer surface of plastic will warp, due to the effects of temperature and aging, so that sometimes a closure which was flush when installed will no longer close evenly after a certain amount of use. Similar problems also arise with other types of cover panels, typically for fuel tank filler pipes or retractable curb feelers.